JUST ONE WEEK… only 7 more days… (YIPPEE)

Summer break is nearly over. 

Did you survive?

Did you thrive?

For our family it is a toss-up!  We had some fun travels, spent a month rotating the flu (which I never succumbed to… another sign that God designed mothers very well) and we had a whole lot of busyness.  Sure, we had sweet moments of playing together (and not fighting), swimming and seeing sights.

But now we are a week from school starting and we are at a fevered-pitch of burnout of all this togetherness, 3 kids (and a mom) full of nerves for a new year to begin and too much togetherness (YES – I mentioned that twice).  I know that this sounds like I am being way too personal or real, but I am just calling a spade a spade.  We are READY!  Well, we are READY or NOT to get this year moving along.

It has become so crazy at times that I can’t even spend 2 minutes alone without crimes against The Geneva Conventions being committed.  (That works for kids too, right?)  The injustice occurs when I am barely out of sight.  Then they have to follow protocol and report the crime against all humanity and especially themselves IMMEDIATELY.  No matter where we are from one another I hear my name called with a shrill and sometimes the overwhelming/choking/gagging tears.  This call sometimes happens when I am in sight.  But usually it is when I am in the bathroom.  (YES – I said it)  Then they proceed to talk to me through the door.

I don’t know about you, but this makes me lose it!!  The sounds of uncontrollable crying of one to three children, the yelling of enough circumstantial evidence that they could conduct an on-the-spot trial and I can’t forget the gnashing of teeth towards one another can make a mom go crazy.  And all I have to protect me is  a one-inch hollow door and a flimsy door knob lock.  It is enough to make my insides boil.  After a summer of requesting 2 minutes alone until I can come out and process the crime with my full attention, I have come up with a new policy in our home and I have posted it for all in the land to see.

 

If there is no…FIRE,
or BLOOD loss, or
ALIEN INVASION…
IT CAN WAIT UNTIL
YOUR MOM IS OUT
OF THE BATHROOM!!

It has been up one week and it is definitely helping.  I am praying it will continue to lessen as school is in session and our time for togetherness is a little less.  This is what it has come down to in our home.  How about you??

Please tell me what you think or if you have any ideas for 3 children to allow for 2 minutes of privacy I am all ears!

Feel free to print our your own copy for your bathroom door(s).  Yes – you see a plural on that… I have two posted and both help!

If you can relate and feel others can too as we head into this last stretch to school, please share this along.

We all deserve a good laugh and for some reasons as moms we want others to understand us, but we have a real hard time being the real us to others.  This is me today with one week to go.  And yes, 2.5 months ago at the beginning of summer I wrote a sweet piece about not wanting summer to go too quickly.  I still feel that way… but again summer break has proven that all good things come to an end… AND WE ARE READY!

We are in this together – – let’s claim back our 2 minutes!!

Praying for your 2 minutes and mine without ceasing!

Kristin

The PROUD mom of a 5th grader, 2nd grader and 4 year old preschooler

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4 (Count’em 4) Wooldridges are Back to School

Oh me! Oh MY!  The joy of learning and the excitement of the unknowns.

> Who is my teacher?

> Who is in my class?

> Can I make new friends?

> Will my teachers like me?

> Can I handle the work?

> Will I find my way??

These questions are what are facing me and my 3 kids.  Ian headed off to 4th grade to be an “upper” classmen at his elementary school.  Kaylee bounced off into 1st grade like it could be a cake walk and was ready to be with her friends.  Sweet Rhett even boarded the bus this morning for his first day of preschool, which left us both very shaken and teary eyed.  I am used to them going to school.  But it is my turn this fall too.

I have been out of college since 1998.  14 years.  In those 14 years I have worked and enjoyed a fast paced sales career.  I’ve stayed home for almost 10 years to support Amon’s career path, raise our sweet kiddos and find what makes me tick.  I’ve also lead an amazing ministry at my church for 6 years.  The known has been GOOD.  It has been quite a journey of ups and downs but it helped prepare for my next step.

It has opened me up for what I could be and that I can be more.  So here goes!  My backpack isn’t Hello Kitty, but my new school bag is filled with syllabi, notebooks and required readings.  I am reading and writing all the time and devouring what I am learning.

My new journey starts officially Wednesday when I travel to Conception Abbey for the CREATE cohort retreat for 4 days.  I applied and interviewed back in the spring.  I was notified in the middle of May that I was selected as one of ten in this newer Masters of Divinity program at Central Baptist Theological Seminary.  I will work closely and study with these 9 other students over the next 3 years.

How I will be shaped and how I will grow is unmeasurable.  I am so excited to lean into the work and grow.  I have no firm plans for after I complete the program.  It is open-ended and I can’t wait to see the pieces add up.  And as a planner this FREAKS me out!  But I know to my core that my openness to creativity, the learning and the journey will be my responsibility at God’s work in my future.

What is known is that when the program is completed I will still be sending off my children to school… to kindergarten, to 4th grade, and to 7th grade.  And I am excited to be on this journey with them.

Keep us in your prayers!